Indian pacers peaking at the right moment

The scintillating performance by the India pacers at the recently concluded Asia Cup in Sri Lanka may have brought renewed confidence into the Indian cricket team ahead of the forthcoming ICC World Cup tournament.

The way the Indian pacers-Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya-bowled in the final of the Asia Cup was simply par excellence and the experts have now predicted that India is a strong contender for the coveted trophy.

Siraj scalped six wickets while Pandya chipped in with three in the final against Sri Lanka and as a result the host team created a new record of lowest runs against India.

Then again how could anyone not when they have the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna to choose from? The fact that India have six top-shelf fast bowlers and without injuries is no mean achievement. But the thing about this line-up is not so much that most of them are capable of going past 140 kmph.

A large part of that stems from Bumrah and his hyper-extending genius, but that’s not to say the rest don’t come with their alternative angles, their radically different points of release, their approach to the crease, their pace variations and so on.

It seems to be a good omen for the Indian team ahead of the forthcoming big-ticket tournament. The Indian attack becomes more threatening if one adds the spinners into the same. The likes of Kuldeep Yadav and others have the capability to demolish any batting side in the world.

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup will be the 13th edition of the Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organized by the International Cricket Council. It is scheduled to be hosted in India from 5 October to 19 November 2023.